Saturday, December 18, 2010

Sometimes you come across good new MLE related initiatives. Here is one: The NGO Ullash is piloting of a mother tongue based pre-school programme in Orissa. They write on their website (http://ullash.org/index.php):

The Programme “Successful Transition for Young Tribal Children in Odisha” primarily focuses on the preparation and piloting of a mother tongue based pre-school programme which will enhance children's learning in Anganwadis and pre-schools / other ECE centres and give them a sound foundation for a smooth transition to primary schools. The project is supported by the Bernard Van Leer Foundation and implemented by the state government and NGOs (PREM, CYSD and CLAP) in remote rural and tribal pockets.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Last month the International conference on “Language, Education and the Millennium Development Goals” took place. About 400 participants from all over the world were present. High government officials from China and other countries used the conference to learn more about the language issue and my understanding is they are already following this up with action. From India we had Sanjeev Raj (Save the Children), Ft Mahipal Bhuriya (Adivasi Navotthan Sanstha), Abraham Jose (Nirman) and Dhir Jingran (Room to Read) present (maybe more that I am not aware of).
The Unesco website reports ...

The three-day forum provided a platform to share ideas and inspire action to increase access to education and development for ethno-linguistic communities by increasing understanding of the linkages between language and achieving the MDGs and EFA; fostering connections among a broad set of actors to support activities that integrate language and education as cross-cutting themes in achieving the MDGs and EFA; and informing policy makers and development partners on good practices to effectively incorporate language and education into strategies and policies to achieve the MDGs and EFA ahead of the 2015 deadline.

The Adivasi Sahitya Sabha is gearing up to start a unique school where Adivasi students will get the opportunity to study in the popular Adivasi language — Sadri.

...

“The school will help the students to learn fast and make their classes interesting. Even if the students shift to other languages later, they will face less problems after continuing a few years in their mother tongue,” he said.

“The content was designed in a systematic order to not only show the background rationale as to why MTB-MLE is needed, but also to demonstrate the various steps which are needed to ensure strong foundations in the mother tongue before transitioning into 2nd and/or 3rd languages. The mornings tended to be presentation/theory-oriented, while the afternoons were given over to practical sessions and/or case studies. Most people used PPTs for their presentations, and included various types of group work within their presentations to ensure maximum involvement by participants.”

About 30 people participated from the university as well as DIETs, SCERT, some schools and NGOs. Attached is a translation of a newspaper clippings.

Some of you know Cynthia Groff as she did extensive research in India on multilingualism. Her dissertation on "Language, Education, and Empowerment: Voices of Kumauni Young Women in Multilingual India" has now been published on the web: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/115/.